Officials appeal to moral obligation in poverty fight

U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern gives some remarks at the Poverty at Home and Reasons for Hope program held at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Leominster on Friday morning.
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LEOMINSTER -- Speaking at Friday's Poverty at Home and Reasons for Hope conference, Kathleen McDermott, executive director of the Montachusett Opportunity Council, said there are 26,000 impoverished people in North Central Massachusetts.

She added it was the responsibility of everyone in the range of her voice to help eliminate that poverty.

"I believe that is our moral obligation," said McDermott.

The event was sponsored by MOC, Mount Wachusett Community College, Fitchburg State University and the North Central Massachusetts Minority Coalition. It was held in the grand ballroom at the DoubleTree hotel in Leominster.

Using data from the U.S. Census, McDermott showed that Fitchburg has the highest percentage of people living below the poverty line, 19.1 percent, which is nearly twice Leominster's poverty rate of 9.9 percent. The lowest poverty rate in the area is Phillipston, with 3.7 percent. Ashby is a close second with 3.5 percent.

"Our region is really a tale of two cities," said McDermott. She said the area has both rich and poor communities that are near each other.

"I think there's something wrong that we're ... the richest country in the history of the world and we have close to 50 million people who are hungry or food insecure," said McGovern. He later said food should be considered a right for people in America.

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McGovern said congress is making a mistake with concentrating on the federal debt and ways to reduce the size of government and should instead prioritize helping the poor. However, he also made several specific criticisms of the form some federal anti-poverty programs take, such as how people can lose benefits when they earn a little more money. They can end up with fewer resources.

"There's a cliff that people reach," said McGovern. "They're doing everything that people expect of them, but it's not enough to get them out of poverty."

McGovern also said the country has multiple federal anti-hunger programs, but no concise, integrated system.

"No one's coordinated, no one's working together," he said. "There is no plan. Hillary Clinton said it takes a village, I say it takes a plan."

While at the podium, McGovern endorsed increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour. That theme of increasing minimum wage was picked up by the next speaker, Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center President Noah Berger, who celebrated that Massachusetts is raising its state minimum wage by $1 a year for the next three years. In all cases, speakers who mentioned the minimum wage championed it.

After lunch of breaded chicken breast and vegetable wellington, Bruce Wells, mental-health case manager for the Multicultural Wellness Center, spoke about a young drug dealer who came to him for help several months ago. He said that young man is now working in the hotel kitchen and made the food that was served at the conference. That got an excited round of applause from the audience and Wells added that the man has given up drug dealing, is living in the area and is enrolled at MWCC.

Ronald G. Marlow, assistant secretary for access and opportunity for the commonwealth, said he wanted to modify something Martin Luther King Jr. said about how the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.

"It only bends towards justice when people of good will come along and bend it towards justice," said Marlow.

Brenda Payton-Myles of Fitchburg was a panelist on the subject of improving communities and spoke about her own journey out of poverty through a MOC program.

"I always wanted a house; I had furniture and a chandelier in storage," said Payton-Myles. In 2004 she enrolled in the Individual Development Account program. She took classes on budgeting her expenses and controlling energy costs through the Twin-Cities Community Development Corporation and had her personal savings of $1,333 matched three times over to get started.

Today she lives with her husband and three boys in a Fitchburg house. The chandelier is in the living room. She also earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from FSU and works at a childcare center.

MWCC President Daniel Asquino also spoke about his own experience with poverty. After he left the Navy, he ended up living in subsidized housing and caring for his young family with food stamps.

"I know what it's like to search for pennies to buy a can of soup and a loaf of bread," said Asquino. He echoed a statement made by McDermott that eliminating poverty is a moral responsibility.

"I believe in a free market, but I also believe in equal opportunity, and that's what this is all about," said Asquino.

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